SFAUDi

{ MEDIA }

Parramatta Road, now and then ... the proposal for
the transformation of Parramatta Road is based on building the M4 East
under nearby suburbs. Photo: NRMA, Wolter Peeters

IN A sign the powerful road lobby has accepted the need
to reduce car use, the state's main motoring group has unveiled a plan
to turn one of Sydney's most congested and blighted roads into a public
transport corridor.

In return, the NRMA wants the NSW government to build the
8.5-kilometre M4 East under the suburbs between Concord and the city.

The NRMA argues removing much of the traffic - especially
trucks - from Parramatta Road and putting it underground, would
transform the road into a boulevard of ''transit-oriented
development'', lined with medium-density housing, shops and cafes.

Under the plan drawn up by one of Australia's leading
urban planners, Ed Blakely, there would be two lanes for light rail
along the middle of Parramatta Road, as well as a cycleway and two
lanes for slower-moving local traffic.

Asked if the transformation of Parramatta Road was a
trade-off for getting the controversial M4 East, the NRMA president,
Wendy Machin, said: ''Yes, I think so.''

''If you're talking about perception, this could make it
more palatable [to motorway sceptics], especially if opponents can see
it is part of a holistic land-use plan.''

The plan would allow for the building of at least 23,000
flats along the corridor between the city and Strathfield and the
upgrade of what planners call a classic ''traffic sewer'' - a noisy,
congested and polluted artery that divides neighbourhoods.

From the mid-1990s, there have been at least five
proposals to rehabilitate Parramatta Road. The then Inner Metropolitan
Regional Organisation of Councils sought $400,000 from the federal
government to fund a four-year upgrade. Two years later, councils
presented a plan, ''Parramatta Road, 2000 and Beyond''.

In 2002 a consortium of architects, landscapers and
engineers, called the Sydney Central Team, won an international
competition for ideas to overhaul a 23-kilometre strip of ''decay and
unrealised potential smack in the middle of the demographic heart of
Sydney''.

''I would see this as a win-win,'' Ms Machin told the Herald.
''Sydney gets a vital piece of infrastructure - I mean, the [absence
of the] M4 East is like a missing tooth in the face of Sydney - and we
improve the amenity of Parramatta Road at the same time.''

The NRMA estimates the cost of building the M4 East
tunnel, laying the light rail, preparing a cycleway and upgrading the
streetscape would be $7.4 billion. But the organisation calculates
that, over 25 years, the government could raise $10.8 billion from the
development, including close to $6.8 billion through stamp duties.

Motorway experts welcomed the plan to reduce traffic on
Parramatta Road but consider that the M4 East would increase congestion
for the Anzac Bridge at Rozelle, which is already close to capacity.

Michelle Zeibots of the University of Technology, Sydney,
said Parramatta Road would be likely to become ''a feeder route'' for
the M4 East, especially around the entry and exit portals at
Strathfield, Lilyfield and Chippendale.

''In the past, extensions to the M4 have led to induced
traffic growth and put pressure on the surrounding roads,'' she said.

In its metro strategy, the NSW government identifies
Parramatta Road as part of an ''enterprise corridor'' to be
''considered as part of any planning of an extension of the M4 motorway
to reduce congestion on Parramatta Road and strengthen connections
between western Sydney and Sydney CBD and Port Botany''.

Sandie Bizys, the owner of Sandie Bizys Hats & Vintage
in Stanmore, has been in business on Parramatta Road for 10 years.

"Sydney's traffic congestion and infrastructure issues
would certainly be enhanced by some form of light rail,'' the milliner
said. ''And what better spot to locate it than what some already term
as 'the wild wild west' - zoned commercial from the very beginning -
and wasting away as a sensational vision for both the community and
developers alike to enjoy.''